This invention relates generally to a sofa sleeper and, more particularly, to a folding sofa sleeper mechanism having a low-profile head rail, whereby the mechanism can be disposed in a forward-biased orientation within a sofa frame and the mechanism will neither extend into the sofa frame back cavity nor conflict with the breast rail of the sofa frame.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, traditional sofa sleepers contain a folding mechanism 100 with a head section 102 that, when stowed, extends beyond the breast rail 104 and into the back cavity 106. Modern sofa sleeper designs, however, have a deeper seating area that, while in the sofa position, extend the seat cushion area and increase the distance between the back cushions and the front of the sofa sleeper. Due to the extension of the seat cushion area, the deep-seated sofa sleepers necessarily have a sofa frame that is longer from back to front than traditional sofa sleeper frames. As can be appreciated by referencing the illustration in FIG. 9, leaving the traditional folding sofa sleeper mechanism 100 in a rear-biased orientation near the back rail 108 causes the mechanism to conflict with the front rail 110 when the mechanism is unfolded from a stowed, sofa position into an extended, sleeper position. Additionally, as can be appreciated by again referencing FIG. 9, moving the traditional sofa sleeper mechanism 100 forward will cause the head section 102 to interfere with the breast rail 104, adversely affecting the functionality of the sofa sleeper.
Thus, it would be desirable to manufacture a folding sofa sleeper mechanism with a low-profile head rail that can be configured with both traditional and modern sofa sleeper frames.